2021 Mercedes-Benz S 450 L Review – CarBuyer.com.sg
1. Introduction / Appearance
2. Interior / Features / Technology
3. Space / Practicality / Even More Tech
4. Driving Experience / Competition / Conclusion

Page 3: Space, Practicality and tech-in-practice

With the giant addition to the car’s wheelbase, there’s more than enough legroom for anyone but professional basketball players. There’s no aberrant coupe-styling here, so headroom is never an issue, either. There’s 550-litres of boot space, which is enough to swallow four golf bags. 

Where the S-Class excels is carrying four people in extreme comfort. There’s actually a decent equipment list which supports this too: Four adjustable seats with heating/cooling, four zone climate control, rear blinds, and a high-spec Burmester 3D sound system. 

Like the rest of the Mercedes range, the S-Class can talk to you and take commands via MBUX. Our test car didn’t have an active 4G connection through Mercedes Me (the brand’s connection service) so she wasn’t as clever as she normally is.

But if the S-Class is a robot entity, it’s one in the Asimovian sense: It’s packed chock full of safety systems to stop you from pranging it. 

Active safety is nothing new, but besides the usual all-singing, distance-keeping, lane-fencing, rear-cross-traffic-alerting systems, there’s also a few things we haven’t seen before. One is the ‘Assistance’ display choice on the driver’s instrument panel, which shows the traffic all around you and distance data. A bit like a Tesla’s, but much better presented. 

Then there’s the Augmented Reality functions: When stopped at a light and first in queue, the big 15.8-inch screen shows traffic lights for greater awareness. If you’ve engaged navigation, it’ll put virtual turn indicators showing exactly where you need to turn in, or merge, for example – very useful in unfamiliar territory.

At 5.3-metres long though, the S 450 L is almost crossing the border of excessively-long cars for Singapore. Without the optional all-wheel steering (S$4,700) you’ll certainly need to make multiple adjustments when parking in some tighter HDB carparks, for instance.

Luckily the comprehensive parking camera system is capable of showing you almost every conceivable angle you might want, which helps. There’s also the Parking Guard feature, which stops you from hitting things while parking. Pro Tip: Don’t park quickly in the S-Class with the feature on, or it may give you a shock by e-braking to ‘save you’ a hit. 

We’ve only just begun
As tested, the S 450 L still lacks some of the optional and in-the-pipeline equipment – including true self-driving tech 

Virtual Reality display S$4,700: A 3D-ified version of the driver’s instrument display, which uses eye-tracking instead of 3D-glasses.
MBUX Smart Home (TBC) : Links MBUX to the user’s smart home, so you can verbally ask Mercedes about the situation at home. Eg. ‘Did I lock the door?’
MBUX Interior Assist (TBC): Laser cameras allow for motion gestures, detecting occupant size to adjust the seats automatically, and more.
Intelligent Parking Pilot (TBC) : Mercedes says the S-Class has everything needed for true self parking under the Automated Valet Parking (AVP) infrastructure. It’s the first car to be approved under that label. With AVP, it’s able to operate as SAE Level 4 autonomous car in that circumstance, i.e. driving itself with no human inside. Like the Audi A8, it’s also capable of Level 3 autonomy – self-driving with human supervision – in traffic jams. But as the legal framework for automated driving is still in its infancy both in Singapore and most everywhere else, we won’t be seeing these features for a couple years yet.

Page 4: This is the most old-school bit of the new S-Class – the drive

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